ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Mohsin Aziz on Wednesday submitted the Intersex Persons (Protection of Rights) (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the Senate seeking important changes to The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani instantly referred the bill to the committee concerned for consideration, keeping in view its importance.

The statement of objects and reasons of The Intersex Persons (Protection of Rights) (Amendment) Bill, 2022 is to ensure welfare of transgender persons.

As per the bill, intersex persons will have the right to get education, healthcare, employment and other opportunities as enjoyed by the normal human being in the society.

It has been explained in the bill that the primary objective of this act should have been to protect the rights of “intersex persons”.

Intersex person generally means a person with ambiguous genitalia and is also known as hermaphrodite. But, unfortunately, in the Act 2018, there are some provisions which are totally contrary to our traditions, religion and even Constitution.

The Intersex Persons (Protection of Rights) (Amendment) Bill, 2022 has been designed to cater to the requirements for the welfare of intersex persons by deleting all those sections of the transgender persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018 which are against the injunctions of Islam and the Constitution.

It has also been explained in the Bill that the term “Transgender” was launched by an American psychiatrist John F. Oliven in1965. It was essentially meant for persons who experience sexual orientation against their sex at birth.

It says this is primarily a disordered mental state where a man may “feel-like” a woman or a woman “feel-like” a man or sometimes even may have “fluid gender perceptions” which is called “non-binary” gender. It is psychological/psychiatric state of mind and cannot be equated to “intersex”.

It therefore, seeks to change the title of “The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018” as The Intersex Persons (Protection of Rights) (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2022